Webserver

Web servers come in several varieties. The most common stack is known as LAMP which stands for linux apache mysql php. Threesixes (talk) suggests setting up the web server stack by selecting the database first, then scripting language second, and web server 3rd.

Web Servers

SSL Termination, Reverse Proxies, & load balancing

Reverse proxies are useful, some cache static data, and shuck out cached pages rather than hitting the web server. Some pass requests to backend nodes high availability clustering your website, some web servers have this functionality built in.

Post install

There are several considerations to take into account with a web server install, such as setting up an email server, setting up a firewall, firewalling web applications, and dynamically firewalling attackers.

Dynamic Firewalling

Webapp Firewalls

Apache has an option for webapplication firewalling. as far as Threesixes (talk) can tell this passes login errors & excessive site fuzzing to logs for fail2ban/sshguard to deal with.
https://github.com/nbs-system/naxsi is a web app firewall for nginx.

Benchmarking

It's a good idea to benchmark your system, server, & websites. There are several tools to assist you in doing this.